Theorist Nursing background: Dr. Hildegard E. Peplau, one of the world's greatest nurses and theorists, known worldwide as the mother of nursing psychiatric nurses, was born into an immigrant family in Reading, Pennsylvania, United States, in 1909 (Sills, 2007). The devastating influenza epidemic of 1918 influenced Dr. Peplau's understanding and impact of illness and death on families (Sills, 2007). As a result, Dr. Peplau decided to attend nursing school. In 1931, she graduated from the Pottstown Pennsylvania School of Nursing (Sills, 2007). Shortly after graduating, she began her career as a nurse in Pennsylvania and New York (Sills, 2007). After becoming a school nurse at Bennington College in Vermont, Peplau received her bachelor's degree in interpersonal psychology in 1943 (Sills, 2007). She then began working in a private psychiatric facility. During World War II (1943-1945), Dr. Peplau served in the Army Nurse Corps and was assigned to the Field Station Hospital in England, where the American School of Psychiatry was located military (Sills, 2007). It was during the war that Dr. Peplau enhanced her nursing knowledge and practice through direct participation in learning and practice. In 1947, Dr. Peplau received his master's and doctoral degrees from Teachers College, Columbia University (Sills, 2007). In 1954, she was certified in psychoanalysis by the William Alanson White Institute in New York (Sills, 2007). In the early 1950s, she developed and taught the first courses for graduate psychiatric nursing students at Teachers College (Sills, 2007). From 1954 to 1974, Dr. Peplau was a faculty member at the College of Nursing at Rutgers University (Sills, 2007). There she created the first graduate ...... middle of paper ...... and their Works. St. Louis: Mosby. In Johnson, B. and Webber, P. (2005). An Introduction to Nursing Theory and Reasoning, pp. 128-131. Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. Marchese, K. (2006). Use Peplau's theory of interpersonal relationships to guide the education of patients undergoing urinary diversion. Urologic Nursing, 26(5), 363-371. Nursing Theories, (2012). Theorist-Hildegard. E. Pepelu. A companion to nursing theories and models. Retrieved from: http://currentnursing.com/nursing_theory/interpersonal_theory.html Sills, G. (2007). Hildegard Peplau. Home page of Hildegard Peplau, nursing theorist. Retrieved from: http://publish.uwo.ca/~cforchuk/peplau/obituary.html Gonzalo, A. (2011). Hildegard E.Peplau: Theory of interpersonal relations. Theoretical foundations of nursing. Retrieved from: http://nursingtheories.weebly.com/hildegard-e-peplau.html